FACING CHALLENGES: THE U.S. DOD SHIFT TO ASIA-PACIFIC

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

Right:  Defense Secretary Ash Carter speaks with Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III at U.S. Pacific Command headquarters at Camp Smith, Hawaii April 12, 2015. Three days later, Locklear joined other Defense Department leaders on Capitol Hill for a hearing on maintaining the U.S. military’s technological edge. DoD photo by Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Sean Hurt.  

Asia-Pacific Shift Creates Opportunities, Security Needs
By Cheryl Pellerin
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, April 15, 2015 – The Defense Department’s ongoing rebalance to the thriving Asia-Pacific region comes with many opportunities and a few pressing requirements: to upgrade security relationships, maintain specific military capabilities and redouble efforts to boost U.S. technological superiority, defense officials said today.

Christine Wormuth, undersecretary of defense for policy, testified before the House Armed Services Committee on implications for aspects of the department’s Asia-Pacific rebalance of losing military technological superiority.
Joining the undersecretary were Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, and Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, commander of U.S. Forces Korea.

The past seven years have been a time of tremendous change and opportunity for the Asia-Pacific region, Wormuth told the panel.

“As nations there rise and become more prosperous,” she said, “it's created a lot of opportunity at the same time that dynamism in the region has created a much more complex security environment in which we are now operating.”
Challenges in the Region

The department faces several challenges in the region, including those that come from China, she said.

“China's very rapid military modernization, its opaque defense budget, its actions in space and cyberspace and its behavior in places like the East and South China Seas,” she added, raise serious questions for the department.

China's expanding interests are a natural part of its rise, Wormuth said, but its behavior in the maritime domain, for example, has created friction for its neighbors.

“The government's efforts to incrementally advance its claims in the East and South China Seas and its extensive land reclamation activities, particularly the prospect of further militarizing those outposts, are very concerning to us,” she said.

China and North Korea

The United States and China are not allies, but they don’t have to be adversaries, Wormuth added, noting that the department is speaking with China about its concerning actions and about activities to improve understanding, especially through military-to-military engagement with the People’s Liberation Army.
Elsewhere in the region, she said, DoD’s greatest concern is North Korea's pursuit of ballistic missiles and its weapons of mass destruction program.

Other challenges in the region, Wormuth told the panel, “are magnified by a growing range of nontraditional threats, such as the increased flow of foreign fighters both to and from Asia, the trafficking of illegal goods and people, and devastating natural disasters such as the cyclone we saw last month in Vanuatu.”
DoD is focused on the rebalance along several lines of effort, Wormuth said.
Strengthening Security Relationships

These include strengthening security relationships with allies and partners, including Japan, South Korea, Australia and the Philippines, and strengthening new relationships in South and Southeast Asia. These include Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.

The department also is investing in its partnership with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which leads an effort to build a more robust regional security architecture, the undersecretary said. The U.S-India relationship also is an important partnership, she added.

The department is updating its forward presence, putting more assets into the region and using its assets in new ways, Wormuth said.

“We've developed a more distributed model for our Marine Corps that is reducing our concentrated presence in Okinawa [by] relocating Marines to Australia, Guam, Hawaii and mainland Japan,” she added.

Sustaining the U.S. Technological Edge

The Navy is working on its rotational-presence concept, including being on track to have four littoral combat ships rotating through Singapore by 2017. Two ships are already there, the undersecretary said.

And the Army will initiate its first rotational deployment of a brigade combat team to the Korean Peninsula later this spring.

“We're making significant investments to sustain our American technological edge into the future in the air, land, sea and undersea domains,” Wormuth added, investing in precision munitions and working on new capabilities for operating freely in space and cyberspace.

In his remarks to the panel, Locklear said that the United States is a Pacific nation, but also an island nation.

“We rely very heavily on power projection, which means we have to be able to get the forces forward [and] sustain them forward,” he said.

U.S. forces “rely heavily on systems that several decades ago weren't even known about or thought about too much, and that exist now in the cyber world and in the space world,” Locklear said.

Dominant Military Power

Such systems also could reveal vulnerabilities that the department will have to pace with technological advancements, the admiral said.

“It's my assessment that we remain the most dominant military power in the world in all aspects,” Locklear said. “And I think that not a country in the world would disagree with that today, even though I think they would recognize that … the relative gap between how good we are versus how some of the other forces may be developing is shrinking.”

But Locklear said he believes the United States clearly has the best ships, the best submarines, the best aircraft carriers, “and the best people running them in the world.”

He added, “What’s important to me is making sure that the force we have, number one, is dominant … and it needs to be technologically superior across multiple domains.”

Relevant in All Domains

From space to cyber to air to integrated air and missile defense, to sea, maritime, subsurface maritime, the admiral said, there are technological challenges as all the militaries of the world get better in these domains. “We must continue apace to be relevant in the domains that allow us to project U.S. power in defense of U.S. interests,” he said.

In his remarks, Scaparrotti focused on the Korean Peninsula.
The North Koreans are developing asymmetric capabilities, he said, “and specifically orienting on what they consider to be some of our vulnerabilities, and through their development they are trying to close our dominance.”

Specific asymmetric capabilities that Scaparrotti said he thinks about most are North Korea’s ballistic missile capability and the continued ability to counter it, along with its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.
Maintaining Dominance

“Many of our adversaries are becoming more proficient in determining how to work inside our capabilities -- our intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities -- and also how to use deception and other means in order to limit the advantage we have today,” the general said.

The Defense Department has to continue to develop its capabilities, to change its posture, its concepts and its employment to ensure that we maintain dominance, Scaparrotti added.

“My top concern is that we will have little to no warning of a North Korean asymmetric provocation, which could start a cycle of action and counteraction leading to unintended escalation,” Scaparrotti said.

This underscores the need for the alliance to maintain a high level of readiness and vigilance, he added, noting that last year the alliance took significant steps to improve its capabilities and capacities to deter aggression and reduce operational risk.

Steadfast Strategic Partner

“But our work is not done,” the general said. “In 2015, we will maintain this momentum by focusing on my top priority -- sustaining and strengthening the alliance -- with an emphasis on our combined readiness.”

Strengthening the alliance includes ensuring the rapid flow of ready forces into Korea in the early phases of hostilities, he said, and improving ISR capabilities and critical munitions.

Based on both nations’ national security strategies, Scaparrotti said, the United States will continue to be a steadfast strategic partner to South Korea, “and South Korea is poised to be a long-lasting and important ally to America.”

DEFENSE SECRETARY CARTER VISITS HIS FORMER HIGH SCHOOL IN ABINGTON, PA

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

Defense Secretary Ash Carter delivers remarks to students at his high school alma mater, Abington Senior High School in Abington, Pa., March 30, 2015. Carter spoke about building "the force of the future" and what the Defense Department must do to maintain its superiority well into the 21st century. DoD screen shot.
 
Carter: New Generation is Future of National Security
By Cheryl Pellerin
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2015 – On the first day of a two-day domestic trip, Defense Secretary Ash Carter today visited the high school he attended in Abington, Pennsylvania, to speak with students whose generation, he said, represents the future of national security.

Carter -- Abington class of 1972 -- got a standing ovation as he took the podium. After he spoke and answered a round of questions from students in the packed high school auditorium, they stood, clapped and cheered as he thanked them for their attention.

On his first domestic trip as defense secretary, Carter is also scheduled to visit Fort Drum in Jefferson County, New York -- home of the 10th Mountain Division. There, he plans to meet with troops who recently served in Afghanistan.

Before traveling back to Washington, the secretary will stop at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, to discuss the department’s commitment to building what he calls the “force of the future.”

Joining the Military

In his remarks, Carter referenced the 150-plus Abington graduates who had joined the military before and after attending college since 2000.
The secretary mentioned of some of his favorite high school teachers and coaches, some of whom were in the audience. He also named Lt. Matt Capps, a Navy helicopter pilot and 2000 graduate, whose mother Carole, a school employee, was in the audience.

“Movies like ‘American Sniper,’ video games like ‘Call of Duty’ and TV commercials with troops coming home are most likely where you see our military in your everyday lives, unless you have a family member or friend who is serving,” Carter said. Those images are somewhat true, he added, but they’re only part of what the 2.3 million men and women in uniform do every day in their jobs and in their lives.

The Future of National Security

“I wanted to come here today because your generation represents the future of our country and the future of our national security,” Carter told his audience.
“We now have the finest fighting force the world has ever known,” he said to applause, “and they’re not just defending our country against terrorists in such places as Afghanistan and Syria and Iraq -- they’re helping defend cyberspace, too.”

Service members work with cutting-edge technologies such as robotics and in fields such as biomedical engineering, the secretary said.

When disaster strikes, military forces deliver aid all over the world, he added, from the 2011 nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan to super storm Sandy in the United States. And they mobilized to Africa to save thousands of lives, helping to keep the deadly Ebola virus disease from spreading around the world.
Evolving Military Missions

“Our country’s military missions continue to evolve rapidly as our world changes and technology continues to revolutionize everything we do,” Carter said, “and … the institution I lead, the Department of Defense, must keep pace with that change as well to keep our nation secure.”

The secretary told the students that some people join the service right after high school and pursue a college education over time while serving. Some in college participate in the ROTC, a college-based program for training commissioned officers.

“In all cases, college and higher learning are encouraged, because we need our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to be the best and the brightest this country has to offer,” Carter said.

Nearly 40 percent of military officers come from ROTC programs at colleges and universities, he added, noting that the services send many members to top-notch graduate programs, such as civil engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, medical school at Stanford University, and business school at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
The New GI Bill

Everyone who serves, Carter added, can get college benefits through the GI Bill –- now called the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 -- which over the past five and a half years has helped more than 1.3 million Americans pay for college.

“You don’t have to join the military to serve your country –- I didn’t,” Carter said. “But Matt and all those other Abington graduates are the foundation of our future force.”

The future force has other pieces too, he added, such as having the best technology and the best planes, ships and tanks. “But it all starts and ends with our people,” he added. “If we can’t continue to attract, inspire and excite talented young Americans like you, then nothing else will matter.”

To help build the future force, the department must be able to attract young people and put the current generation’s command of technology to work for the nation, the secretary said.

Building the Future Force

Carter mentioned the kind of data-driven technology that allows Netflix to suggest movies and TV shows, Twitter to suggest who to follow and Facebook to suggest who to add as a friend. He said the same technology could be applied to chart how people are doing every day in all aspects of their jobs.

“We also need to use 21st-century technologies –- similar to LinkedIn and Monster.com –- to help develop 21st-century leaders and give our people even more flexibility and choice in deciding their next job when they’re in the military,” he added.

The department has internships, fellowships and pilot programs that allow people to pause their military service for a few years while they get a degree, learn a new skill or start a family, the secretary said, but he added that such programs are still small.

“These programs are good for us and our people, because they help people bring new skills and talents from outside back into the military,” Carter said. “So we need to look not only at ways we can improve and expand those programs, but also think about completely new ideas to help our people gain new skills and experiences.”

Equal Opportunity, Better World

Carter said the department also plans to keep making sure that anyone who is able and willing to serve their country has a full and equal opportunity to do so, drawing talent from a range of gender, racial, religious, cultural, economic, and educational backgrounds.

“Whether you’re a man or woman, gay, lesbian or straight -- no matter what walk of life your family comes from -– we’ll make sure you’re treated with dignity and respect,” Carter told them.

The secretary said the services will be competing hard around the country for talent like that represented by the students at Abington.

“I know that not everyone here is thinking about military service, and that’s okay,” he said. “If you’re like I was and you’re still interested in serving your country and making a better world, we need to be ready to help with ways you can serve as a civilian. Right now that’s not something our local recruiters offer, but we have to rethink that.”

The department wants people to consider military and public service because, “when it comes to working in national security, no matter what you do –- military or civilian –- you will be better off for having been a part of this incredible mission,” Carter said. “Whether it’s the people, the skills or the experiences, nothing else compares. I guarantee it.”

DOD SAYS PEOPLE AND PARTNERS ARE CRITICAL CYBER NEEDS

Navy Lt. John Knolla mans the tactical action officer watch in the combat direction center aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan during Exercise Valiant Shield 2006 in the Philippine Sea. Valiant Shield focuses on integrated joint training among U.S. military forces, enabling real-world proficiency in sustaining joint forces and in detecting, locating, tracking and engaging units at sea, in the air, on land and in cyberspace in response to a range of mission areas. U.S. Navy photo by Airman Christine Singh 

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Critical Cyber Needs Include People, Partners, General Says
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2013 - Despite the inherent technical "geekiness" of cyberspace and urgent Defense Department efforts in that area, people and partners are among DOD's most critical cyber needs, the senior military advisor for cyber to the undersecretary of defense for policy said last week.
Army Maj. Gen. John A. Davis spoke to a large audience at the June 25-27 Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association International Cyber Symposium in Baltimore.

Cyber partnerships such as those with the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency and external partnerships such as those with industry, international allies and academia represent a transformation in the way DOD approaches cyber, Davis said.

For more than two years, he said, "DOD has been fundamentally and deliberately transforming the way we think, the way we organize, the way we train and equip, the way we provide forces and capabilities, the way we command and control those forces, the way we operate and the way we insure leadership and accountability for cyberspace operations."

Even the general's job as military advisor for cyber, a new position formally approved in August in an environment of reduced resources, "is an indication of how seriously senior department leaders are taking this subject," he said.
The standup of U.S. Cyber Command in 2010 was part of this transformation, he said.

"It brought together disparate cyber functions of operating our networks, defending our networks and applying offensive capabilities against adversary networks," said Davis, adding that Cybercom's collocation with the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, Md., greatly improved DOD cyber capabilities.

"There's a much better integration of intelligence through NSA's hard work," the general said. "From shared situational awareness to a common operational picture, NSA is doing some really great work. Leveraging their skills and expertise is not only an operational advantage, it's a necessity."

Beyond NSA's technical focus, Davis said, DOD needs broad strategic context for intelligence to fulfill its cyber mission and that DIA, along with other intelligence community organizations, plays a critical role.

Ultimately, people and organizations who work against the United States and its allies in cyberspace are behind the development of malicious code and software, he said.

"This is where DIA is helping us refine and improve our indications and warning so it's not limited to actions taking place at the speed of light, but actions by humans and organizations and processes that might help us ... act with more options for leadership decisions," the general added.

As it does with interagency partners at the Department of Justice's FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, DOD builds capabilities in cyberspace by working with industry, international partners and academia.

In its work with the defense industrial base, or DIB, DOD is the sector-specific agency under Homeland Security for interacting with the DIB.

In 2010, the voluntary DIB Cybersecurity Information Assurance, or CS/IA, effort opened as a permanent program after a pilot period with 34 companies. Activities under the program enhance cybersecurity capabilities to safeguard sensitive DOD information on company unclassified information systems.

With the publication of a federal rule in 2012, DOD expanded the program, and nearly 100 companies now participate. At the same time, the optional DIB Enhanced Cybersecurity Services, or DECS, became part of the expanded DIB program.
Homeland Security officials said DECS is a voluntary program based on sharing indicators of malicious cyber activity between DHS and owners and operators of critical infrastructure. The program covers 18 critical infrastructure sectors, including banking and finance, energy, information technology, transportation systems, food and agriculture, government facilities, emergency services, water, and nuclear reactors, materials and waste.
"DOD relies heavily on critical infrastructure, which is in part why the department has a role to play in providing support to defend these commercial systems," Davis said. More than 99 percent of electricity and 90 percent of voice and communication services the military relies on come from civilian sources, he noted.

"Defending our networks is a challenge that's not getting any easier because of our reliance on key networks and systems that are not directly under DOD's control," the general observed.

Davis said the DIB CS/IA program and DECS "are part of a whole-of-government approach to improve the nation's cybersecurity posture. It's a holistic approach, because that's what's required in order to achieve this goal."

DOD international engagement supports the U.S. International Strategy for Cyberspace and President Barack Obama's commitment to fundamental freedoms, privacy and the free flow of information, and the right of self-defense, Davis said.
DOD's ongoing cyber engagement with allies and close partners takes many forms, he added, including sharing information about capabilities and processes, warning each other about potential threats, sharing situational awareness and fielding more interoperable capability.

Such engagement includes joint training venues and exercises, he said -- "everything from tabletop exercises to more sophisticated exercises, and we're doing joint training and putting cyber into our bilateral exercises on a more regular basis."

With the State Department and other interagency partners, the general added, DOD participates on cyber matters in bilateral, multilateral and international forums, such as the United Nations and NATO.

"As an example of a critical bilateral relationship," he said, "I've had the great honor twice in the past year to engage as part of a U.S. academic and government interagency forum with counterpart Chinese academic and government organizations."

The last meeting was in Washington in December, Davis said.
"We recognize China as a rising power and one of the world's leading voices in this discussion, so senior government officials across the interagency have actively engaged their Chinese government counterparts, including their military [counterparts] ... in a number of ways already and we would like to see those engagements expand," Davis said.

On July 8, DOD officials and several interagency partners "will hold a working group meeting on cyber with our Chinese counterparts to talk about this directly and to strive for concrete solutions with actionable steps for progress," he added.
DOD's partnership with academia addresses what Davis describes as the department's biggest challenge going forward: building the cyber workforce.
"DOD is looking at ways to fundamentally change the way it recruits, trains, educates, advances and retains both military and civilians within the cyberspace workforce," he said. "The vision is to build a system that sustains the cyberspace operations' viability over time, increases the depth of military cyberspace operations experience, develops capable leaders to guide these professional experts ... and ensures that we build real cyberspace operational capability from within our human resources into the future."

The department is looking to partner in new ways with other federal, academic and private institutions, he said, to attract and retain skilled professionals in cyberspace.

"While cyber is always viewed as a technical area," Davis said, "the fact is it's always about people. People are going to make the difference in cyber, just as they have in every other dimension of DOD operations. So we must get the people part right to guarantee success for the future.

AIR FORCE CHIEF SCEINTIST FINISHED HIS LAST DAY AT THE PENTAGON

FROM: U.S. AIR FORCE
AF science guru appointment closes out
by Staff Sgt. David Salanitri
Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

5/31/2013 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The Air Force's chief scientist  spent his last day on the job May 31 after more than two and half years in the Pentagon.

Dr. Mark Maybury's time with the service is heavily marked by major strides in the science and technology.

Three of those major changes include studies that created roadmaps for energy, cyberspace and research and development.

All three define how the service can harness science and technology to its advantage.
His first research focused on energy. Why energy? The first sentence of the document entitled, "Energy Horizons" puts the bottom line up front.

"Energy is a center of gravity in war and assured energy advantage can enable victory," it reads.

The 72-page plan aims to increase energy supplies, reduce demand and change the culture to meet mission requirements.

His second study, Cyber Vision 2025, outlines the Air Force's vision for the science and technology, acquisition and operations needed to provide the assured cyberspace advantage to the Air Force, combatant commanders and interagency partners.

"It is cyberspace (science and technology) that can provide the assurance, reliance, affordability and empowerment to mitigate and defeat these risks," Maybury said. "However, this requires integration across authorities and domains, shaping of doctrine, policy, people and processes and intelligent partnering."

Finally, his third study, titled "Global Horizons", identifies threats and opportunities in the near, mid and far term through 2030. It identifies how to best leverage the $1.4 billion in global research to achieve revolutionary Air Force advancements.

"These three strategic studies should have long-term impact," said Maybury, who is slated to work in the nonprofit sector. "Already we have seen the Air Force benefit from the insights our Air Force team. It also has helped us focus our investments of what is most critical."

One of the accomplishments that stand out to him is linking the Air Force with other agencies as well as internationally.

When it comes to building those relationships, Maybury said "you only have a limited time."

With his days as the Air Force chief scientist closing fast, Maybury encourages the upcoming generation of students to explore the technology and cyber realm.

"I especially want to encourage parents and students to seek to excel both in science, technology, mathematics and engineering but also in the arts," he said. "STEM is the foundation of our productivity, economic competitiveness and military strength. Moreover, it's a doorway into an exciting and limitless career."

As Maybury makes his way out of the Air Force, his motivation to do great things is abundant.

"I'd like to say to any kids or parents listening out there, that I was just a little boy from a small town, Chelmsford, Mass." he said. "You can do anything if you work hard, excel in school and learn from (others)."

Those who worked with Maybury describe him as energetic with a "type A" personality who gets things done, and while he'll no longer be the service's top scientist, he isn't going far, as he's been nominated to serve another four years on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board.


　

COMMANDER OF U.S. PACIFIC COMMAND SAYS U.S. AND CHINA CONFLICT IS NOT INEVITABLE

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Pacific Commander: U.S., China Can Build on Common Ground
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 22, 2013 - The United States and China, by increasing their dialogue and engagement, can build a foundation of trust while fostering regional security and prosperity, the top U.S. commander in the region said yesterday.

"While competition between the United States and China is inevitable, conflict is not," Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, told members of the National Committee for U.S. China Relations in New York.

"This means identifying strategic areas where our two countries can cooperate, while recognizing frankly and openly the areas where we will continue to differ, and to manage those," he said. "Our approach is to manage the friction and disruptive competition and increase areas of congruence and cooperation between our two nations."

Locklear encouraged the China experts to envision a future in which "the U.S. and China collaborate to build upon an existing Indo-Asia-Pacific community of peace and prosperity."

Reaching that goal, he said, requires recognizing, understanding and managing areas of divergence that could disrupt the security environment. These range from China's concerns that the U.S. strategic pivot to the Asia-Pacific region is designed to contain China's rise to differences in how the two countries view the maritime global commons and the lack of common ground on behavior in cyberspace.

Locklear emphasized that the rebalance is a whole-of-government strategy, recognizing that "the United States' success in the 21st century will, to a large extent, depend on what happens in this critically important region of the world."

Based on a strategy of collaboration and cooperation, the rebalance acknowledges the reality that the United States' future is "inextricably linked" to Asia's, he said. And one of the fundamental goals in implementing it is to build a "stable, productive and constructive relationship with China," he added.

Despite many areas of divergence between the two countries, Locklear said, he believes they're outweighed by areas where the United States and China share common interests.

"First, it is my belief that neither of our two nations desire conflict, especially armed conflict," he said.

But both countries must also recognize the major roles they both play in the region, he said. "The Pacific is big enough for all of us," Locklear told the group, borrowing a quote from both former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the United States' and China's economic relationship -- one that Locklear said draws them together and positively affects the entire region.

The admiral noted other promising developments that are solidifying this foundation: China's growing participation in the international community, its commitment to a denuclearized Korean Peninsula and its efforts to address HIV/AIDS and pandemic diseases, among them.

Meanwhile, China is demonstrating "a real appetite to deepen the military-to-military dialogue and build on those areas on which we converge," Locklear said. The goal, he said, is to continually improve the channels of communication and to demonstrate practical cooperation on issues that matter to both sides.

Gen. Fang Fenghu, China's top military officer, identified counterterrorism, antipiracy, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, logistics and military medicine as potential areas of cooperation during a visit to Beijing by Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Looking to the future, Locklear said, it's vital that both China and the United States recognize their responsibilities as regional and global leaders.

"We must move beyond our individual differences to bring consensus to issues that threaten regional stability and future prosperity," he said. That includes partnering with other nations to address regional security challenges such as piracy, terrorism, proliferation and pandemic disease.

Secondly, he said, the two countries must work together and with the international community to ensure access to the shared domains through universally accepted standards. This extends from the maritime domain -- and territorial disputes in the South China and East China Seas -- to the cyber and space domains, where they can play a role in helping to establish worldwide standards and practices, he said.

Also key, Locklear said, is China's increasing participation in regional military-to-military engagements. He cited progress in the Military Maritime Consultative Meeting and other forums, and China's agreement to take part in the next Rim of the Pacific international maritime exercise.

These engagements help to build trust and mutual understanding and, ultimately, reduce the likelihood of miscommunication and miscalculation that could derail forward progress, Locklear said.

"I believe the best hope for sustained bilateral cooperation will come from strategically identifying those areas where our interests overlap and building, over time, greater understanding and trust between our two armed forces," the admiral said.

U.S. AIR FORCE SPACE COMMAND WILL ADD 1,000 NEW PEOPLE

Left to Right: Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Joel Melendez, Naval Network Warfare Command information systems analysis, Air Force Staff Sgt. Rogerick Montgomery, U.S. Cyber Command network analysis, and Army Staff Sgt. Jacob Harding, 780th Military Intelligence Brigade cyber systems analysis, at an exercise during Cyber Flag 13-1, Nov. 8, 2012, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Matthew Lancaster

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Air Force Space Command to Bolster Cyber Force
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 2013 - The Air Force Space Command expects to be directed to add 1,000 new people, mainly civilians, to its base of about 6,000 cyber professionals for the 2014 fiscal year, the command's chief said here yesterday.

Speaking with reporters at a meeting of the Defense Writers Group, Air Force Gen. William L. Shelton said direction for the hires would come from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, fueled by the U.S. Cyber Command.

"Cyber Command is in the midst of determining how they are going to operate across all the geographic combatant commands as well as internal to the United States," Shelton said, "and it looks like we will be tapped for well over 1,000 additional people into the cyber business, so you can see [cyber] is starting to take root."

If budget restrictions allow the increase in personnel, they will be hired over two years beginning in fiscal 2014, and 70 percent to 80 percent will be civilians "if it turns out like we think it's going to turn out," the general said.

This will represent about a 15 percent increase over 6,000 cyber professionals working today for the 24th Air Force, he added, noting that the 24th Air Force is the numbered Air Force that works under Air Force Space Command.

A numbered Air Force is a tactical Air Force organization that is subordinate to a major command and has assigned to it operational units like wings, squadrons and groups.

Within the 24th Air Force, subordinate units for cyber operations include the 67th Network Warfare Wing and the 688th Information Operations Wing at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, and the 689th Combat Communications Wing at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.

"I have the responsibility of major command headquarters but in terms of where the work really gets done to operate and defend Air Force networks, to provide exploitation capabilities and develop attack capabilities, that's the 24th Air Force," he said.

"They are also the Air Force component to U.S. Cyber Command," the general said, "so when U.S. Cyber Command wants Air Force capability or wants capabilities the Air Force has developed, that's where they go."

Those who work in the Space Command's cyber arm tend to operate, defend, exploit and attack rather than address cyber policy, Shelton said, "but the 24th Air force certainly gets into the policy area as well just because of the newness of this business."

The general observed that the policy and legal regimes are not as mature as they need to be because it's so difficult to segment them.

"The cyber domain -- I call it the Wild West because you can be anywhere and do anything and be effective," Shelton said. "All you need is an Internet connection, the right skills and a laptop and you're in the game."

In cyber there are many parallels to the space domain, Shelton said, "because it's global in nature and yet the effects you want are in somebody else's backyard in terms of geographic combatant commanders' ownership. So getting a model that works efficiently and effectively and also respects the geographic combatant commanders' authorities -- that's the challenge."

Shelton said one of his biggest problems in planning for the future, including the future of Air Force cyber and space operations, is the uncertainty of the DOD budget process.

"We don't have an appropriations bill for [fiscal 20]13 so we're not sure what the '13 picture is, and here we are over a quarter [of the way] into '13," the general said. "That affects planning for the president's budget for '14 and that, in turn, impacts ... the '15-and-out budget, which we're in the throes of right now."

The budget situation, he added, "is the worst I've seen in thirty-six-and-a-half years in this business [in terms of] the pressures on all of us now to try to make decisions without good information. And it is the national security of the nation we're talking about here."

Shelton said he'd looked at 2012 as a year to make "a pretty good move into cyber ... to show progression, to show grasping the reins of the cyber capabilities of the Air Force. Whether or not we're going to be able to do that is the question, whether or not we're going to have sufficient funding."

But as the budget process plays out, the general said he plans to be a strong advocate for priorities like space and cyber.

"There will be strong advocates coming from other functional areas within the United States military as well," he added, "so it's going to be literally the strategy that we adopt based on the budget authority that will be available, and then you let the chips fall from there."

AIR FORCE SPACE COMMAND LEADER SPEAKS AT 11TH ANNUAL AIR FORCE IT DAY

Credit: U.S. Air Force

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
AFSPC commander speaks at 11th Annual Air Force IT Day event

by 1st Lt. Connie Dillon
Air Force Space Command Public Affairs

10/12/2012 - PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- General William L. Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, was a featured speaker at the Northern Virginia Chapter of the Armed Forces Communication and Electronics Association's 11th Annual Air Force IT Day event at the Sheraton Premiere Hotel in Tysons Corner, Va., on Oct. 11.

General Shelton addressed attendees at the annual one day conference, calling for more definition and articulation of solutions for a wide range of strategic issues facing AFSPC and the broader Air Force cyberspace enterprise. His comments included further defining cyberspace and the Air Force role in this new, accelerated warfighting domain.

"First and foremost, we are still grappling with defining cyberspace in a way that's effective and promotes understanding across the Air Force," said General Shelton. "Our actual working definition is still evolving as we gain more operational experience and understanding"

General Shelton described multiple organizations' various definitions of "cyberspace" and how it created confusion in roles, functions and "lanes in the road" due to the lack of precision in operating definitions. He said that there is a need to find a definition that provides a common, fundamental understanding for all developers, operators and stakeholders in the cyberspace enterprise.

"We owe it to our people, from the most junior Airman to the Secretary and Chief of Staff, to narrowly define what we mean when we talk about cyber, and once we've arrived at that agreed upon working definition, we must clearly communicate it to the field," he said.

Pursuant to that discussion, General Shelton brought up the interest to further define the Air Force's role in cyberspace.

"Every military operation, across the entire spectrum of conflict, relies on the cyber domain. We, like the rest of the Services, have huge equities in this domain," he said.

General Shelton discussed the cycle of questions that lead to additional questions about the Air Force's role in cyberspace. These questions bring up topics to include: the scope of our focus in the cyberspace domain, the major implications that the change of focus would have for Title 10/50 authorities, the decisions of whether or not the Air Force or other organizations will cover certain "high end" services, and the impact of those decisions on the force structure and capabilities presented to the U.S. Cyber Command.

"As you can tell, there are some basic decisions we'll need to make, relative to how we stake out our proper role in cyberspace. As a guiding principle in all of our decisions, it's incumbent on us in this community to convert our terminology into plain English" said General Shelton. "General Welsh has challenged us with avoiding confusing language, not only in cyber, but in all aspects of the Air Force, and we should be able to tell our story without the complication of insider terms of art."

The general also highlighted the need to provide cyberspace mission assurance in the increasingly challenged cyberspace domain.

"Cyber capability has developed over the past 40 to 50 years in a relatively benign, permissive environment, but it's no longer a very benign operating domain," said General Shelton. "Now we face a continuously changing landscape of threats, adversaries, and technologies. The cost of entry is low, anonymity is high, and attribution is difficult at best."

Anonymity, explained General Shelton, enables so much nefarious cyber activity today.

"State-sponsored attackers, criminal hackers, criminal elements hired by states, hackers who like to tweak our noses just for fun--there is no shortage of adversaries out there every day," he said.

General Shelton related the need to move our focus from information assurance to mission assurance, invoking concepts from Sun Tzu.

"If you try to protect everything, you'll succeed at defending nothing," he said. "We can't defend everywhere all at once, so we have to identify nodes and systems that are critical to mission assurance. We've got to carefully prioritize what assets, what data, which data path, we will protect in extremis."

"As you can see, we are shifting our focus from traditional cyber defense and information assurance, where there are too many gates to guard, to a strategy of resilience, layered defense, and mission assurance," said General Shelton.

General Shelton touched on strategies for recruiting, training, and retaining the cyber talent necessary across the entire Total Force, and the role of industry in an evolving cyberspace Acquisitions environment that demands rapid development times more relevant to cyberspace reality.

In closing, General Shelton noted the sense of urgency to figure out cyberspace now and get on a common vector.

"We've clearly only begun to take the initial steps toward really defining the operating domain, our Air Force role, the people we need, the focus we need, and the industry relationships we need," he said. "We may just be past the 'crawling' stage and into the 'walking' stage of cyber, but we need to step up smartly and start running."

This year's theme for the 11th Annual Air Force IT Day event was "The Joint Fight--Mission Success through Cyberspace."

U.S WORKS FOR COOPERATION IN CYBERSPACE AMONG NATIONS

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE   

DOD Expands International Cyber Cooperation, Official Says

By Cheryl Pellerin

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2012 - The Defense Department is moving beyond its traditional treaty allies to expand partnerships in cyberspace, a senior defense office said today.

Steven Schleien, DOD's principal director for cyber policy, said DOD officials are working toward long-term goals of collective cyber self-defense and deterrence.

Schleien spoke at Georgetown University's second annual International Engagement on Cyber here where experts from Washington, the Netherlands and Russia spoke about national security and diplomatic efforts in cyberspace before several hundred students and experts in the field.

"We started with our traditional treaty allies, those with whom we have commitments," Schleien said.

The department started there in accordance with President Barack Obama's international cyberspace strategy, released in May 2011, which says that "hostile acts in cyberspace could compel actions under our mutual defense treaties," he said.

Defense officials worked with DOD allies and NATO staff during the 2010 Lisbon Summit, Schleien said, to bring all NATO networks, civilian and military, under the NATO Cyber Incident Response Center, which is expected to be complete later this year.

Most recently, he said, DOD officials are starting to talk with the Japanese, South Korean and New Zealand defense ministries about cyber security, while working closely with the British and Australian ministries "to talk about a whole spectrum of cyber interoperability."

Cyberspace is a novel arena for defense partnerships, said Schleien, a former arms control official. "In our view ..., arms control doesn't work in cyberspace," he said. " ... I don't know what we would monitor, [or] how we would verify anything in terms of cyber weapons or cyber tools -- an issue my Russian defense colleagues have raised."

Internationally, though, "we do believe that we need to establish norms of international behavior for cyberspace," he added.

"The law of armed conflict comes to mind as one that's essential to DOD," Schleien said, "because in our view, [it] applies to cyberspace as it does to the other operational domains."

U.S. Cyber Command finds it necessary to share information with other countries, but harder to accomplish given its national security mission, Navy Rear Adm. Samuel Cox, Cybercom's director of intelligence, said at the forum.

Cybercom Commander Army Gen. Keith B. Alexander also is the director of the National Security Agency, which Cox called a unique Defense Department and national intelligence collection organization responsible for exploiting potentially adversarial foreign networks for intelligence purposes, within the cyber realm.

"From our perspective, what we're looking at is a global cyber arms race [that] is not proceeding as a leisurely or even linear fashion but is, in fact, accelerating," he said.

The increasingly vertical nature of the threat, Cox added, "is what is motivating my boss and others for a particular sense of urgency in being able to move forward on this."

It's relatively easy to engage with longstanding international partners like the United Kingdom and Australia, as well as Canada and New Zealand, he said.

Beyond those nations, Cox said, "it gets significantly harder."

One of the impediments is the high-level classification of the information, which has "very strict rules on how you can share this with foreign governments," he said.

The bottom line is that military cooperation with foreign countries in cyberspace "is still an extremely difficult environment to try to navigate through," Cox said.

But because cyber defense is a global problem, the admiral added, "if we don't work together with many of those key allies, then we will not be able to make a significant improvement in the current threat environment."

In the United States, Obama's issuance of international cyber strategy was a landmark event in raising critical awareness of the cyber security issue, Christopher Painter, the State Department's coordinator for cyber issues, told the audience.

"The threat certainly has become more acute," he added, but the issue has evolved from a narrow, technical issue to "a national security issue and a foreign policy issue -- and a foreign policy priority."

A growing number of countries have released national cyber security strategies and "organized their government around this issue," Painter said.

When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Obama's international strategy, he added, she characterized the range of cyber-related issues as constituting "a new foreign policy imperative."

Painter added, "I think that is important because it raises the level of dialogue to something that those people who often didn't play in this sandbox before -- foreign ministries at the heads-of-government level -- are now dealing with."

What the United States is doing domestically feeds into what the nation is doing internationally, he said.

CYBERSPACE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

The following excerpt is from the Department of Defense American Forces Press Service
DOD Reviews Cyberspace Rules of Engagement
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 20, 2012 - Whether by land, sea or air, Defense Department leaders have long crafted rules of engagement to determine how, where and when they can attack the enemy. They expect soon to complete the same for their newest domain: cyberspace, the assistant secretary of defense for global strategic affairs said today.

"We are working closely with the Joint Staff on the implementation of a transitional command-and-control model for cyberspace operations" while reviewing existing rules of engagement, Madelyn R. Creedon told the House Armed Services Committee's subcommittee on emerging threats and capabilities.

Teresa M. Takai, DOD's chief information officer, and Army Gen. Keith Alexander, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, joined Creedon at the hearing.
"This interim framework," Creedon told the panel, "will standardize existing organizational structures and command relationships across the department for the application of the full spectrum of cyberspace capabilities."

Describing DOD's strategies for operating in cyberspace, Creedon said the department maintains more than 15,000 network enclaves and 7 million computing devices in installations around the globe.

"DOD continues to develop effective strategies for ensuring the United States is prepared for all cyber contingencies along the entire spectrum," she added, "from peace to crisis to war."

In times of fiscal constraint, Creedon said, DOD also is taking advantage of efficiencies provided by information technology advances.
"The department has been working around the clock, often in close cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies," she said, to protect the nation from cyber threats that include the theft of intellectual property, as well as damage to the defense industrial base, the economy and national security.

The department hit a "significant milestone" last July with the release of its first strategy for operating in cyberspace, Creedon said. The document builds on President Barack Obama's International Strategy for Cyberspace and the DOD Quadrennial Defense Review, and guides the department's military, business and intelligence activities in cyberspace in support of national interests, she said.

The DOD works closely with colleagues in the departments of Homeland Security, Justice, State, Treasury, Commerce and other agencies, she added, and pursues bilateral and multilateral engagements to enhance security and develop norms of behavior in cyberspace.

Takai told the panel that DOD's $37 billion information technology budget request for fiscal year 2013 includes a range of IT investments, including $3.4 billion for cyber security efforts to protect information, information systems and networks against known cyber vulnerabilities.

It also includes $182 million for Cyber Command for cyber network defense, cryptographic systems, communications security, network resiliency, workforce development, and development of cyber security standards and technologies department-wide.
Among efforts to improve effectiveness and efficiency, Takai explained, "is consolidation of the department's IT infrastructure, networks, computing services, data centers, application and data services, while simultaneously improving the ability to defend that infrastructure against growing cyber threats."

Her office is leading the implementation of the initiatives, the chief information officer added, "but it is important that we work closely with the services, Joint Staff and U.S. Cyber Command to more aggressively modernize our overall information systems."
A pillar of that modernization is a move to a single, joint network architecture, Takai said, allowing DOD and Cyber Command better visibility into network activity and better defense against cyber attacks.

Individually, she said, the services and agencies have taken action to better position the information enterprise and security posture.

The department has made significant progress in several areas, Takai said. One effort involved deploying a modular system called a host-based security system that enhances situational awareness of the network and improves the ability to detect, diagnose and react to cyber intrusions.

"We've also taken the lead in assessing the risk of the global supply chain to our critical information and communications technology," Takai added, and has instituted a successful defense industrial base cyber security and information assurance program.
Alexander said cyber defense requires contributions not only from DOD, but from Homeland Security, the FBI, and the Defense Information Systems Agency -- "all key partners in helping us do our cyber mission."

Cyber space is becoming more dangerous, he added.

"The intelligence community's worldwide threat brief to Congress in January raised cyber threats to just behind terrorism and [nuclear] proliferation in its list of the biggest challenges facing the nation."

The task of assuring cyberspace access, the general said, "has drawn the attention of our nation's most senior leaders over the last year and their decisions have helped to clarify what we can and must do about developments that greatly concern us."
Cyber Command is specifically charged with directing the security, operation and defense of DOD's information systems, he added, "but our work and actions are affected by threats well outside DOD networks ... threats the nation cannot afford to ignore."
Dangers are not something new in cyberspace.

"Nation-state actors in cyberspace are riding a tide of criminality," the general said. "Several nations have turned their resources and power against us and foreign businesses and enterprises, even those that manage critical infrastructure in this country, and others."
For the panel, Alexander described five key areas Cyber Command is working on:
-- Building the enterprise and training the force;
--Developing a defensible architecture;
--Getting authorities needed to operate in cyberspace;

--Setting the teamwork properly across U.S. government agencies; and
--Creating a concept of operations for operating in cyberspace.
"I think we're making progress," Alexander said, "but ... the risks that face our country are growing faster than our progress and we have to work hard on that."

NORTHERN COMMAND OUTLINES PRIORITIES

The following excerpt is from a Department of Defense American Forces Press Service e-mail:
Northcom Prioritizes Homeland Defense, Cyber, Partners
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 13, 2012 - Priorities for U.S. Northern Command include expanding partnerships, keeping eyes on air, space, cyberspace, land and sea domains, and outpacing all threats, the Northcom and the North American Aerospace Defense Command commander said today.

Army Gen. Charles Jacoby, Jr., testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the fiscal 2013 defense budget request for the first time as Northcom commander. Northcom was established after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to defending the homeland and help civil authorities respond to natural and other disasters. Its area of responsibility includes Canada and Mexico.

Jacoby said his priorities include advancing and sustaining the U.S.-Canada partnership of NORAD, monitoring the unique and fast-changing domain of the Arctic, and taking care of the men and women of Northcom.

"This past year has been busy. We've synchronized our activities with many partners and done our part to realize efficiencies that we've worked through the budget process," Jacoby told the senators.

As part of the budget, he said, Northcom trimmed its workforce by 141 full-time positions this year, and for fiscal 2013 has requested reducing its operations and maintenance funding by about 6 percent.

"But with the resources and authorities at hand and maintaining our vigilance," the general added, "we'll be able to continue to defend and support the American people."
Outside its primary homeland defense mission, some of Northcom's most immediate concerns include cyber security, transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States from the border with Mexico, and security issues that arise from the predicted melting of Arctic sea ice, opening parts of the Arctic over the next decade to human activity.

Northcom's main responsibility in the cyber domain, Jacoby said, "is consequence management in the event of a catastrophic cyber attack on this country. Northcom could certainly be called upon to provide support to civil authorities in the recovery. But we think our role is broader than that."

Northcom has "some work to do in defining what [constitutes] an attack in the cyber domain," he said. "It's a very collaborative process we're doing as combatant commanders along with [the U.S. Strategic Command] and its ... Cyber Command. That's a work in progress."

Jacoby said he believes "it will be a matter of policy to clearly define what is an attack or what isn't an attack," and he hopes such a policy can be put in place over the next year.
Until then, Jacoby said, he continues to work closely with Cyber Command commander Army Gen. Keith Alexander "to ensure that we have ample warning to understand if there is a cyberattack or malicious cyber activity that ... could compromise the defense of the homeland."

To achieve that end, Jacoby said, Northcom has good cooperation across DOD and with partners in the Department of Homeland Security.

Some aspects of transnational organized crime are another priority for Northcom. President Barack Obama in July released a strategy for combating such crime, and Northcom and the U.S. Southern Command are the main entities through which the Defense Department engages in the Western Hemisphere.
The mandate increases as more nations ask their own militaries to take on internal security responsibilities, Jacoby said.

"What we do on the border [with Mexico] as the Department of Defense is to provide support to the lead agencies -- the Department of Homeland Security, primarily, and the Justice Department's organizations, as well," he said. "We're eager to provide that support."

Partnering with U.S. Customs and Border Protection gives soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines good training opportunities, he added.

"It is a great relationship that's grown stronger and stronger over time," Jacoby said. "Just this month, we've conducted Op[eration] Nimbus II in the Tucson sector, where 1st Armored Division soldiers feel they got better training than they've gotten prior to a deployment at any time in the past 10 years."

In that operation, more than 500 soldiers from Fort Bliss and Fort Hood in Texas supported the U.S. Border Patrol with intelligence and surveillance assistance.
"I think it's critical to continue to strengthen and expand our partnerships in the Northcom headquarters," Jacoby said. "We have over 32 agencies represented there and eight law enforcement agencies. We've never had better sharing of information across the interagency."

Thousands of miles north, the Arctic is becoming an emerging an area of interest for Northcom.

The Navy's Task Force Climate Change and U.S. science agencies have predicted that by 2020 or so, commercial ships may be able to transit the Arctic, where sea ice is in long-term decline.

The region's more than 1,000 miles of coastline and potential sovereign rights to several hundred thousand square miles of ocean gives the United States a strong national security and homeland defense interest there.

"We have an opportunity, while we watch the Arctic begin to open up, to get ahead of potential security requirements," Jacoby told the senators.

To that end, he added, Northcom's strategic framework is to work closely with the Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy and other partners in the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, and stay closely tied to partners in Canada.
Jacoby said the Defense Department supports the Convention of the Law of the Sea because it would give the United States a role in long-term negotiations that will involve the Arctic and its resources.

In 2004, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee recommended U.S. accession to the treaty in a unanimous vote, but a vote of the entire Senate has not yet taken place. The United States has signed, but not ratified the treaty.